Felix Salten Movies

The events in the direct-to-video Bambi II transpire during the middle portion of the original film, after Bambi's mother dies but before he grows into an adult. The film concerns Bambi being raised by his father, The Great Prince. Bambi learns his place in the forest thanks to his father and with the help of his friends like Thumper. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

This is a routine Disney comedy-fantasy about a boy who turns into a large sheep dog at the most inopportune moments. That is assuming there would be opportune moments. Young Wilby Daniels (Tommy Kirk) finds a magic ring that used to belong to the Borgia family. When he pronounces an inscription on the ring, he is suddenly able to transform himself into a shaggy dog -- though he has no control over when this is going to happen. To his dismay, the girl he likes gets involved without knowing who the dog really is. At the same time, the only way Wilby can break the spell is to perform some virtuous deed. Fortunately for him, a few Soviet spies are just hanging around, waiting to be uncovered by a canine. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The classic Felix Salter story Bambi provides the basis for this near-perfect Disney animated feature. We follow the male deer Bambi from birth, through his early childhood experiences with woodland pals Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk, the traumatic sudden death of Bambi's mother at the hands of hunters, his courtship of the lovely doe Faline, and his rescue of his friends during a raging forest fire; we last see the mature, antlered Bambi assuming his proper place as the Prince of the Forest. In the grand Disney tradition, Bambi is brimming with unforgettable sequences, notably the young deer's attempts to negotiate an iced-over pond, and most especially the death of Bambi's mother--and if this moment doesn't move you to tears, you're made of stone (many subsequent Disney films, including Lion King, have tried, most in vain, to match the horror and pathos of this one scene). The score in Bambi yielded no hits along the lines of "Whistle While You Work", but the songs are adroitly integrated into the action. Bambi was the last of the "classic" early Disney features before the studio went into a decade-long doldrums of disjointed animated pastiches like Make Mine Music. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this British romance, a German duke falls passionately in love with the owner of a beautiful singing voice, even though he has never seen her. When he first hears it, the duke assumes that it belongs to the empress. The voice actually belongs to her hairdresser. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Die Blumenfrau von Lindeau (The Flower Seller of Lindeau) takes place in a sleepy provincial German community. An impoverished widow, unable to pay the taxes on her pet dog, falls victim to the insensitivities of a local politician. Apprised of the situation, a crusading newspaperman champions the old woman's cause, threatening the politician's campaign for the burgomeister's post. Our hero also falls in love with the bureaucrat's daughter, thereby placing himself in a sticky conflict-of-interest dilemma. Based on a play by Bruno Frank, Die Blumenfrau von Lindeau was remade in 1937 as the British social comedy Storm in a Teacup. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi